The Exodus couldn’t be more perfect if Yahweh himself created it from one of my ribs.

If it’s one thing that we understand at Essential Gear Guide, it’s that more is better, and guru bag design company Ogio definitely shares our passion for excess. 

I normally test products and think to myself, “they should have done this” or “wouldn’t it be nice if it had that“.  Though, with features like *The Wedge, a zipperless ball pouch, double pocket hydration, a built in rain guard, and a hidden umbrella compartment, my comments were refined to: “wow, that’s clever“, “this is handy” and “what a great idea“.
Bottom line, Ogio’s hit a hole in one with the Bag that leaves all others in the dust; and with a flashy new design, you’ll be sure to make an entrence with the Exodus!

*The Wedge (pronounced Wedg-ee) is a specialized compartment to hold a variety of hybrid clubs or wedges.

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OMEGA POCKET WATCH 1932

Don’t tell China, but all three are actually gold.  As you might already know, OMEGA is the official timekeeper of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.  The company was the first to be entrusted with this massive responsibility back in 1932 for the Los Angeles Games; hence the commemoration above.  My question is, do actual Olympic medals even cost as much as these watches?

Housed in hand-crafted contemporary yellow, white or red 18-carat gold cases,  the beating heart of the “1932” is the OMEGA double column wheel chronograph with a 24’’’ (53.7mm), 36,000 beat movement calibre (assembled from restored components).  The gilt plates and bridges have been reconditioned while the 57mm white enamel dial with Arabic numerals, 5-60 minute-scale and red OMEGA name are identical to those of the chronographs used at the Olympic Games in 1932.

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The 2008 Summer Olympics kick off in two days, and while individuals outside the U.S. are mortgaging their homes to endorse efforts at attending the games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, most Americans are preparing by barely noticing that this is an Olympic Year.  Fairly low hype considering the US will send 596 athletes to the games (according to the U.S. Olympic Committee). 

Not only are the Olympic Games the most prestigious athletic venue in the entire world, it is the most coveted broadcasting event in all of television, with NBC paying upward of $2 billion for the advertising rights; hard to believe that American viewership of a CSI repeat beat out a night of the Winter Games two years ago (not to mention American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Survivor).    

The U.S. market response to the Olympics seems to be a pretty good litmus test for the collective intelligence and ranking of our nation.  The decadence pattern for the U.S. ratings of the Olympics over the past couple of decades seems to parallel the U.S. decline in literacy (US ranked 55th) , infant mortality (48th), Freedom of the Press (44th), Overall health (72nd), and other measures of a countries worth.   

With NBC declaring that they will present more than 3,600 hours of coverage for the Beijing Games (more than the combined total of every Summer Olympics ever televised in the U.S.), 212 hours of Olympics a day, it’s about time Americans get their sporting priorities in order and honor the greatest athletes as they represent their countries in the biggest sporting venture the world has ever known.

*Keep reading for more info about the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing China.

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If you’re an active woman, you need to get yourself a pair of smarty pants; unless you’re stupid.

Smarty Pants women’s underwear is designed to conquer the problems associated with conventional underwear*, which bunches and uncomfortably rides between your legs.  Smarty Pants are lightweight, non-binding and anti-microbial, which is great because my last pair of undies were pro-microbial which caused a major rift with my Republican husband.   
You’re going to love your new Smarty Pants, and if you wear them by themselves, so are all the men with a healthy set of eyeballs.

* Sorry, will not defend against or deter aggressive hairy men from hitting on you at the gym. 

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[Get It $1,000,000]

Hold the press, the Dutch have an athlete that could medal in Beijing, lets spend three years and $1,000,000 to increase his chances by an 8th of a percent!

Cycle maker Koga Miyata claims to have spent a million dollars on the development of a new bike frame for Olympic bound athlete Theo Bos. Of course with the American dollar acting like Patrick Swayze after chemotherapy, it’s not really that impressive. They should have said the bike cost 10,400,000 Mexican Pesos, that sounds pretty good.

Obviously this is a marketing maneuver by Koga to brand their name. If they really wanted Theo to bring home gold they would have spent their 630,000 Euros on a chemist, not fractional aerodynamics which makes as much difference as eating an orange ten minutes before the race opposed to nine.

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I love this thing so much that I want it to have my babies. 

The Dyna-Flex made by Dyna-Flex International, is a small gyro used to strengthen your arms, hands, wrists, or fingers.  You simply spin the wheel inside the plastic casing and use various muscles of your arm to propel the internal gyro.  The force generated through angular momentum is held steady by the muscles of your arm, forearm, wrist, or fingers depending on how you hold and maneuver the device.

If you’re worried that the Dyna-Flex is a gimmick, don’t be; because it’s not.  You’ll be hard pressed to find a better exercise for your arms.  If you rock climb, this is a must have.  The Dyna-Flex is also beneficial for rehabilitation of the fingers, wrists, forearms, arms, and shoulder muscles.  Take a look at the videos for starting instructions, tips, and assorted exercises. 

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Kevin Ferguson aka Kimbo Slice is a Miami based street fighter turned mixed martial artist (MMA). Last night (May 31st 2008), Kimbo squared up against James Thompson, of who he defeated by TKO early in the third round.  This was Kimbo’s first professional fight to last past the first round. 

Slice first appeared in several underground fights which circulated through the Internet.  He grabbed the attention of the MMA after a notable fight against former Boston Police officer Sean Gannon.
 
Kimbo Slice is the quintessential “bad ass”, yet people close to Kimbo describe him as an articulate and soft-spoken individual that prides himself on being a loving father of six children.  Gary Shaw, who promotes Elite Extreme Combat, an MMA organization based in Los Angeles says, “He has an on-off switch, if it’s off, he can baby-sit your kids, everything’s great. If you flip that switch on, it’s a problem.”

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Size does matter! 
It’s either go big or go home for Nike, who maxes out the USGA’s restriction on head volume, with a whopping 460 cc (4.9 inches front-to-back, the limit is 5″).  The Nike SasQuatch SUMO² driver is like Musashimaru Koyo in size (about 25 in²), but more like Michelle Kwan on precision.  It boasts the highest MOI in golf; a massive 5300 g cm², which makes it a very forgiving and accurate club; guaranteed to lower your blood pressure and keep you out of a quagmire. 

SUMO² stands for Super Moment of Inertia Squared.  The radical geometry was achieved by utilizing a multi-material construction with a composite crown. This is the ultimate driver for distance, forgiveness, and accuracy. 

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Cool, another golf toy. This handy device analyzes you’re swing using tempo, rhythm, backswing length, and club-head speed. Not only that, it’s spot on, last week it told me to leave the range before I killed someone.  One more accidental death and they might rescind my membership.

With feedback from the G6 you can consistently repeat good shots.  Use the Test Mode to analyze consistency or variation in a way you can understand. The watch will determine if you’re an inconsistent swinger, a slow over-swinger, or a short hitter.  The Practice Mode allows you to fine tweak your skills and track progress on specific clubs or club sets.  Were you distracted?  Just mark it Bad and the G6 won’t include it in the summary.  Do you want to see who’s in the lead?  Just glance down at your wrist.  The Game Mode can easily track the stats with four built-in game types, handicap details, and golf course selections.  When you’re done, upload the info to your computer.  Remember, practice doesn’t make perfect. The Suunto G6 Golf Watch does.

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The laser guided pool cue by CueSight Technologies is awesome for burning out the retinas of your billiard opponents; it also comes in handy when lining up your shot. CueSight’s laser design is unique in that the laser extends outward displaying an axial plane, so you can align the center of the cue ball and respective billiard ball at the same time; it’s not just a red dot that would be utterly useless without a transparent cue ball. Don’t expect the laser cue to take shots for you, it’s not a robot, you still have to possess some skill and maybe a preschoolers understanding of geometry.

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Alright, so what’s the deal, do these things work? 
What the hell do you care?  It’s one more golf toy to add to your collection; and a write-off for the company. Ok, but honestly, aside from having a transponder inside your ball, the V-100 glasses from Visiball (great name by the way) are about as good as it gets. These specs block out about 90% of dark colors and allow shorter wavelengths of light such as whites and yellows to pass through. I guess that means when Pope Benedict goes golfing he can’t use his blue balls.  But, hey, if all else fails you can always use the V-100 spectacles on your next golf trip to check whether or not you should sleep on that hotel comforter.  On a serious note, one of the greatest features of these specs are that they double as fluffy bunny hunting glasses.

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